The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-10-29

his foot
'You'rs all rigat. nay ladi only mex,
time don't go foolIng around old
Amos. Hes hard nut.
Here's yer money, sonny" said
the old man. hol ling out bill.
You've earned it,
What do you mcanP" gaspcd the
athlete.
"What do you mean' Why. Jest
this: Yer haytn't had n shock Of
paralysis Yer tried to hcf, one of these
burned torpcdcrs They'll knock
mule down il yer gives 'em the
chance"
The athlete looked vac ,nry ahead.
took back his money and left am i'll the
renewed laughter oi the crowd
Hell have Il yarn 70 tell the S swan
nah folks" sail the perpe'rltor II the
joke. "but do hate TO hear man
blow and thought I'd take him down.
Injured2 N, stree. He'll feel stiff
for an hour or 50, but it won't hurt
him. I've been struck by them one
hundred times, aud it's no fun. can
tell yer It's Just like being struck by
a mild stroke Of lightning don't
generally touch 'em, but a man gave
me one dollar 10 fetch one In, 80 kept
It in tho boat They'll shock you right
through the net. When / was a-hau-
ing in the tinker seine this morning
knowed had ,hock-G,h from the
jerking If my arms The shocks come
right up the wet cording 50 tina some
times you can't hang on anyhow. I've
seen man who stuck one with m iron
harpoOn, thinking it n skate. knocked
down so quick he didn't know what hit
him.
you remember old Curt, that used
to do the chores around here ten years
ago? He lived on rum; he'd 10 any
thing for it, Well, Porce Htldon put
up big job on him once. HID
had the jm.jm aud he'd sworn on
any quantity Of times, but always got
back again. He was just getting over
spree when P'rc came along with Il
shock fish. Oh Cart hal mover seen
one before, 80 Pirco walks up and
says: Cart. whore can get this
fish cleaned2' What's 1T worlh9'
says Curt. 'Will. half dollar, |
reckon. says P,rco. ril draw it my
self. says the oil nigs3r Co ahead.
says Pcrcc aud th' old man fetched
out his biz case knife and began. two
or three of the boys gathering round.
You aim so stca ly as I've seen you,
Curt, says Parce nearly bursting
a-laughing for rs soon as tho old man
touched the fish his arm shot out, so
that the knife naw about three feet.
H. didn't say apy thing but picked the
knife up and iabbed it into ;hc fish
again. You'd have thought he was
making passes like slcight-o!-h hand
chap his hands jcrlled this way and
that, aud the swca' rollcl down off his
face lik, rain. At last h. dropped
her. and sat right down on th, grass
and says: Pcrcc. give me something
to steady my nerves; I've got 'cm
again Well. old Curt never heard
the last of that. and | never saw him
drink afterwards.
Whats the use of the shocks'
Why, | reckon they kill fish with cm
or drivo 'em OF, y
The latter assumptit-. is probably
correct The electric apparatus Of the
torpedo fish il It's dcfcns', and Is GER
tainly good one. Its electric ,rgans
have been compared 10 the voltaic
pile. aud consist of two series Of layers
~ hpNnnAna1 pnlle th, INF
vcning spaces be wen the plates
being filled with trembling,
jclly-likc substance, so that each
cell can be compared to the Lcyd"u
jar Each torpedo carries about lS0
of these batteries. the whole being
equal in power to about fifteen Leyden
jars. making $500 square inches
to the hig o t degree. The
upper side of the ii. is positive. the
lower negative. tn, shock' evidently
being entirely Mt the will of the
strange electrician IhI torpedo is
met with frequently along the Atlantic
coast, csp'cally along the Georgia
portion of it.
A naturalist olcl made some inter-
cs ing cNpcr'm '1ts, one Of which was
the application Of the telephone To n |
torpedo, to see If ,hc shock gave an |
audible sound. SIch proved To bc the |
case. short, low crcak accompany !
ing moderate cxcitci tent. the dis |
charge lasting about onc-if ftccnth Of n
second. Whom the fish was greatly |
excited tn, croak became q groan. |
sounding. it was said, like the tonality |
of mi, and occupying four or five
sccouda When the attention Of scicn-
tiiic men in England was first called to
the torpedo fish, ID: Walsh, + X. s.
amused himself and scientific Lpndou |
with one of these ii hes. after series
experiments mt the lie dc r.. The |
performances took the form of pi.ca-
torial Scancrs. and il became the rage
to take ii III shock Woudrous me-
dicinal virtue was aScrib,d to il, and
the demand for torpcdocS brought =
rich harvest To fishermen. Their use
IN medicine. however. was not new.
as Describes, the physician of Antony
aud Cleopatra, is said to have made
use of them.
Dr. WalSh's method was TO place
living torpedo upon u wet towel; from
A plate he suspended two pieces of
brass wire by means of Silkcn cord.
which served To insulatc them. Round |